Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

November 22, 2024

The Dirty Secrets: Whales, the Grand Canyon and War Criminals



Hualapai camped to defend their ceremonial spring Ha Kam'we, south of the Grand Canyon, said Thursday evening, "Navajo Transitional Energy Company is making its way out." A lithium mine planned by the Australian company Hawkstone Mining is now halted by a restraining order granted by Federal Judge Diane Humetewa, Hopi, in Phoenix. The Australian company hired the Navajo Nation enterprise, Navajo Transitional Energy Company, to operate the lithium mine at Hualapai's Ceremonial Place.

The Dirty Secrets: Whales, the Grand Canyon and War Criminals

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 22, 2024

People who travel the world will tell you two things that they really love: Whales and the Grand Canyon.

The majestic Orca whales are now at risk from the massive oil tankers departing the shores of British Columbia with thick crude oil from Alberta tar sands in Canada, bound for distant refineries and ports.

Meanwhile, in the heart of the Southwest, the Grand Canyon, loved by the people of the world, now has a uranium mine spewing radioactive dust into the air, and endangering Havasupai's aquifer and future generations.

Neither the Appeals Court in Canada, nor the U.S. EPA and Interior have done anything to stop these assaults on the most beloved natural wonders in the world, whales and the Grand Canyon.

Rueben George, səlilwətaɬ, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, remembers the long fight to halt the Trans Mountain Pipeline, now carrying crude oil from Alberta tar sands to the Salish Sea, which flows off the shores of British Columbia and Washington State to the Pacific.

George said they thought they were winning their case in Canada's Appeal Court.

"They said you're right it's going to kill all the Orca whales, you're right -- but we're going to build it anyway," George said at the Salish Sea Assembly in Seattle in November.

The uranium mine in the Grand Canyon is now spraying radioactive dust on Havasupai's medicine plants, and into the air for the world's travelers to breathe. The uranium mine, operated by Energy Fuels of Canada, threatens the aquifer of Havasupai and future generations.

The mine's radioactive truck transport is a deadly risk for Supai, Paiute, Dine', Hopi and Ute on the haul route. The radioactive ore is transported by truck to the Energy Fuels mill in the White Mesa Ute community in southeastern Utah.

Interior's Deb Haaland, who is Laguna Pueblo and Norwegian, has not only failed to halt the deadly risks and destruction, but has proclaimed that the atomic bomb industry, Los Alamos National Laboratory, will lead the green "energy transition."

Los Alamos Labs produces nuclear weapons and is already poisoning the Pueblo homelands in northern New Mexico with radiation. A federal judge recently halted the push to produce and store more plutonium at the site, citing a risk to the environment.


O'odham women in Gila River Indian Community protested the recent rally of Biden and Haaland in Arizona, held just before the political elections. While Biden claimed to be apologizing for the abuse of Native children in boarding schools, O'odham women held Biden responsible for genocide in Gaza.

As Biden spoke, an O'odham woman held up this sign: "There Are Still Babies in Mass Graves. Your Apology Means Nothing!! Land Back."

Calling out to Biden, an O'odham woman yelled, "What about the people in Gaza! What about the people in Palestine! 
How can you apologize for a genocide while actively committing a genocide in Palestine! Free Palestine!"

Hualapai are camped at their ceremonial place to protect it from the lithium mine.

The Navajo Transitional Energy Company, an enterprise of the Navajo Nation, was hired by Australia's Hawkstone Energy to operate the planned lithium mine on Hualapai's land.

The Navajo government's enterprise based in the bordertown of Farmington, New Mexico is labeled transitional energy, but it owns and operates coal mines in Wyoming and Montana, a fact seldom made public.

One of the smaller of Arizona's 22 Indian Nations, the Hualapai Tribe filed a federal lawsuit against Interior Sec. Deb Haaland to protect their sacred spring where they have held their ceremonies since time immemorial in central Arizona.

U.S. Federal Judge Diane Humetewa, Hopi, granted a restraining order to halt the operation while the case proceeds in court.

Today, the news comes that Nez Perce's struggle to recover from deadly gold mining, and recover their salmon in their rivers in Idaho, is targeted again with new mining for gold, silver and war minerals.

Nez Perce, Idaho -- Government snipers lined the hills above Idaho’s Rapid River in  the summer of 1980, five years after the last Lower Snake River dam opened. The snipers were called in response to Nez Perce families fishing for salmon within the Nez Perce National Forest. It was a key moment in the Nez Perce fight to uphold fishing rights, as salmon run numbers declined. -- Northwest Public Broadcasting

Mining for War Minerals: Poisoning Nez Perce Salmon

In breaking news, Nez Perce and their salmon are endangered by mining for war minerals.

Nez Perce have been struggling to recover their salmon in their rivers in Idaho, poisoned by long term gold mining. Now, the U.S. government is pushing more gold and silver mining and mining for war metals.

“At the scale of what they’re doing, we have no choice but to oppose the project in its entirety," said Emmit Taylor Jr," said Nez Perce fisheries watershed deputy director. 

Perpetua Resources CEO Jon Cherry said they want to develop an open pit mining operation not only for gold but for silver and another rare element antimony.

"The military uses it in a lot of munition products," he said. "But much broader use includes flame retardants, night vision goggles, semiconductors.” 

Stibnite is the only site in the U.S. with military-grade antimony readily available, which essentially means high quality, reports KTVB.

 https://www.ktvb.com/article/tech/science/environment/proposed-mining-operation-central-idaho-could-strengthen-national-security/277-21c41cce-f147-462e-80e8-191444af9d2f


The South Fork Salmon River watershed is within the Nez Perce Tribe's aboriginal territory. Nez Perce, who hold treaty-reserved hunting, fishing, gathering, and pasturing rights, are working to increase the number of endangered Chinook salmon Nacò and steelhead Hey-ey.

The East Fork South Fork Salmon River have elevated levels of heavy metals, notably arsenic and mercury from longterm mining at the Project site. The metals concentrations in the river currently exceed health standards.




Copyright Censored News. Content may not be used without written permission.


U.S. Supreme Court Schedules Apache Stronghold's Case for December

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U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Apache Stronghold's Case to Save Oak Flat in December

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 22, 2024

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court will likely consider Apache Stronghold's case on December 6, Apache Stronghold said today. 
The U.S. government plans to turn Apaches ceremonial place Oak Flat over to an international mining giant to destroy it with a massive copper mine that would poison the land and water.

November 21, 2024

Reciprocity: Indigenous Storytellers Film Series, Watch Now




SŪKŪJULA TEI (Stories of My Mother) David Hernandez Palmar with Flor Palmar (Wayuu Iipuana) During a visit to her sister Amaliata, Rosa, a wise Wayuu woman, teaches her grandchildren the importance of reciprocity within their culture.

Reciprocity: Indigenous Storytellers Film Series

FILMS: Amplifying Indigenous Stories
Watch series now

November 20, 2024

Rueben George "We Are People of the Water" Voices from the Salish Sea


Rueben George


Faced with the economic smallpox of oil pipelines, Rueben George says hold tight to your spiritual intention

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, November 2024

SEATTLE -- They never stopped fighting. Even when they cut off his grandfather's finger as a child in residential school because he couldn't speak English, even when they put them in jail for protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline, they never stopped fighting. Even when the appeals court decided that shipping the dirty tarsand oil was more important than the survival of the Orca whales, they did not surrender.

"Even though we're almost extinct, we are still here," said Rueben George, 
səlilwətaɬ, Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass: Activists Sued by Mining Company Tell Their Stories



Activists Sued by Mining Company Tell Their Stories

by  | Nov 20, 2024 | 

WINNEMUCCA, Nevada -- Six people who were sued by Lithium Nevada Corporation last year for protesting the Thacker Pass lithium mine are telling their stories for the first time.

Today, each defendant in the case released a statement explaining who they are and why they took action to defend Thacker Pass, and calling for the public to support their case.

The group includes Dean Barlese, a 66-year-old spiritual leader from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe who was regularly at the protest camps before his foot was amputated due to health issues. Dean’s passion for defending the land drew him back to Thacker Pass soon after his life-changing operation, and he was on the front lines of the 2023 protests.

November 19, 2024

Tewa Women United: Pueblo Infants Endangered by Los Alamos National Laboratory's Radiation Plan

New Report Reveals Los Alamos National Laboratory's Tritium Venting Could Have Triple the Radiation Exposure to Infants Compared to Adults



Tewa Women United: Pueblo Infants Endangered by Los Alamos National Laboratory's Radiation Plan

Native-Led Nonprofit Tewa Women United Commissioned Two Reports
to Study Impacts. Finding: Los Alamos National Laboratory Omitted Dose Calculations to Infants and Children in Their Compliance Application

By Tewa Women United, Censored News, November 19, 2024

ESPANOLA, New Mexico — The Native-led nonprofit organization Tewa Women United, based in Española, New Mexico, has released two independent scientific technical reports assessing the implications and adherence to regulations concerning Los Alamos National Laboratory’s proposal to release tritium into the open atmosphere from four Flanged Tritium Waste Containers located in Area G, near White Rock, New Mexico.

November 18, 2024

Mohawk Nation News 'Tree of Peace Planted and Uprooted from McGill U.'



Read the article at Mohawk Nation News:

https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2024/11/18/tree-of-peace-planted-uprooted-from-mcgill-u/

Mohawk Mothers Deplore Hate Crime -- Great White Pine Uprooted at McGill University




They Disappeared the White Pine, They Disappeared the Children

Tuesday update Ellen Gabriel said, "The Peace Tree - Great White Pine sapling has returned home to Kanehsatà:.ke. Returned to us by McGill Security Skén:nen - As-Salaam Alaikum- Shalom- Peace - la paix"

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, November 18, 2024

MONTREAL -- Kanien'kehà:ka women, Mohawk Mothers, planted a Great White Pine, the Haudenosaunee symbol of peace, in solidarity with Palestinians, at McGill University on Sunday.

It was uprooted in a hate crime.

Mohawk Mothers said this demonstrates McGill University's paranoid stance against anyone supporting peace in the world. Protecting their homeland, Mohawk Mothers stood in solidarity with Palestine, calling for an end to genocide in Gaza.

Lakota Matt Remle: When Standing Rock's Burials were Bulldozed, They Went After the Banks


Standing Rock 2016: Defending the Water

Lakota Matt Remle: When Standing Rock's Burials were Bulldozed, They Went After the Banks

"They didn't have a permit -- and they still don't have a permit to be operating, that's why we shifted focus to the financial institutions, and launched a very targeted campaign." -- Matt Remle, Hunkpapa Lakota

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, November 2024
Watch Video by Govinda 

SEATTLE -- Speaking at the Salish Sea Assembly, Matt Remle, Hunkpapa Lakota from Standing Rock, describes how the Dakota Access Pipeline used Standing Rock's map of burial places against them, and brought in attack dogs as the pipeline bulldozed their sacred burial place.

Remle, whose Lakota name is Wakíƞyaƞ Waánataƞ (Charging Thunder,) said it was then that they made the decision to target the banks and financial institutions that funded this pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline.

November 16, 2024

Protect Ha'Kamwe: Water Ceremony on Nov. 23, 2024


Gumyu'ja ya'ga-hun
Protect The Sacred
Good morning, my relatives near and far. Thank you for all your support, so we would like to take time out and invite you all to come join us. Camping is available.
No Lithium Mining in Wikieup, Arizona
Water Is Sacred Water Is Life

 

November 15, 2024

Live from The Salish Sea Assembly in Seattle Day 1





Live From the Salish Sea Assembly in Seattle

Watch Day 1 video by Govinda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp2VHfE_pq8

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 6, 2024
updated 

SEATTLE -- The Salish Sea Assembly welcomes everyone on Wednesday evening. "There's a fire going outside, and fresh salmon is being cooked," Govinda said as the gathering began.

The Warrior Song began the gathering.

Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Saturate U.N. Climate Summit in Azerbaijan


Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Nation, and WECAN at U.N. Climate Summit today in Azerbaijan.

Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Saturate U.N. Climate Summit COP29 in Azerbaijan

By WECAN International, Censored News, Nov. 15, 2024

BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Fossil fuel lobbyists continue to saturate every corner of COP 29.

At least 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the COP29 summit in Baku— one of the largest delegations this year.

November 14, 2024

Watch: Maori Haka erupts in New Zealand Parliament

https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2024/11/14/watch-haka-erupts-in-parliament-before-treaty-principles-bill-passes-first-reading/
Te Ao Maori News

Watch: Haka erupts in Parliament before Treaty Principles Bill passes first reading

With the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti only halfway to Parliament, ACT leader David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill has gone through its first reading.

During the count of votes for and against the bill, Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke stood up from her seat starting a haka directed at Seymour, which her colleagues and MPs from the Greens and Labour joined. When people in the public gallery above joined in loudly, Speaker Gerry Brownlee suspended Parliament for an hour until the gallery was cleared.

November 12, 2024

Akwesasne 8 Dismissed: New York Power Authority Fails to Produce Documents




Akwesasne 8 DISMISSED. New York Power Authority fails to produce documents necessary to move forward.

Breaking News

By Akwesasne 8, Censored News, Nov. 12, 2024

The charges of Conspiracy to a Felony, and Trespassing against the six of the Akwesasne 8, who appeared today, were dismissed today at Massena Town Court. The District Attorney stated that New York Power Authority (NYPA) did not produce appropriate documents to move forward.

Mohawk Nation News 'Akwesasne 8 Dismissed: NY Power Has No Documents'


 Breaking News! Read the article at Mohawk Nation News

https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2024/11/12/akwesasne-8-dismissed-ny-power-has-no-documents/

November 11, 2024

Paul Chiyokten Wagner: Protectors of the Waters, From the Salish Sea to Standing Rock



Paul Chiyokten Wagner

Paul Chiyokten Wagner: Protectors of the Waters, From the Salish Sea to Standing Rock

Protectors of the Waters: Paul Chiyokten Wagner speaks on carrying forward the sacred way of life, from the Salish Sea to Standing Rock

"Our people hold the road map to paradise. Our people have that memory within us."

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 11, 2024

SEATTLE -- The Protectors of the Salish Sea baked camas on their ancestral island for the first time in one-hundred years, occupied the Washington State Capitol, and  journeyed to Standing Rock to build warm structures for the elders to brace against the blizzards, said Paul Chiyokten Wagner, WSANEĆ (Saanich) sharing the history from the Salish Sea to Standing Rock and beyond.

November 9, 2024

Coast Salish Water Warriors: Voices for the Water at the Salish Sea Assembly in Seattle


Coast Salish Water Warriors: Voices for the Water at the Salish Sea Assembly in Seattle

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News at Indybay, Nov. 8, 2024
Watch 'The Extraordinary Salish Sea' video introduction
SEATTLE -- The powerful Salish Sea Assembly magnified the voices of the Coast Salish Water Warriors, the struggle to shut down the Trans Mountain Pipeline, and the flow of dirty oil from the Alberta tar sands to the Salish Sea. It was censored by all major media.
"We are not just activists, we are revolutionaries and we're radical and militant and we want to keep it that way, we don't want to get soft in our older years," said Kanahus Manuel, Secwepemc and Ktunaxa, describing her family's struggle to protect their land and stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline in British Columbia.

November 8, 2024

Coast Salish Water Warriors, The Salish Sea Assembly, Day 3



'State of Emergency for the Salish Sea' 
in Seattle, Day 3

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 8, 2024
Watch video by Govinda


Water Warrior Patricia Gonzalez, Puyallup, Screen capture Censored News

"All of those waters lead back into one," said Patricia Gonzalez, Puyallup, Water Warriors Council, during the Coast Salish Water Warriors Panel.
"If you ever need healing, just go to the water."

Coast Salish Freedom Fighters: From Alberta Tar Sands to the Salish Sea: Live in Seattle Day 2



Coast Salish Freedom Fighters: From Alberta Tar Sands to the Salish Sea, Day 2

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 8, 2024
Watch Day 2 video by Govinda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giH3RP2S1Fw

SEATTLE -- The dead birds floating in the Alberta tar sands tailing ponds, the man camps linked to missing and murdered Indigenous girls, and the increased oil tankers in the Salish Sea -- are all parts of the dirty oil of the Trans Mountain pipeline pouring out of Alberta's dirty tar sands, bound for oil tankers in the Salish Sea.

"We are not just activists, we are revolutionaries and we're radical and militant and we want to keep it that way, we don't want to get soft in our older years," said Kanahus Manuel, Secwepemc and Ktunaxa, describing her family's struggle to protect their land and stop the Trans Mountain pipeline.

November 7, 2024

Live The Salish Sea Assembly in Seattle, Day 2



"This is really uplifting," says Rueben George, "Come have some food."
Reuben George is speaking on reliance on the spirit and the spiritual ecosystem.
Listen live now to The State of Emergency for the Salish Sea, in Seattle.
"We're people of the water."

In Major Win for Hualapai, Judge Extends Drilling Freeze for Lithium

Hualapai march outside the federal court in Phoenix. The tribe sued the Department of Interior's BLM for illegally approving a plan to drill test holes for lithium and endanger the sacred hot spring called Ha’Kamwe.' (Ash Ponders for Earthjustice, Censored News)

In a Major Win for Hualapai Tribe, Judge Extends Drilling Freeze

Victory — Arizona Lithium must pause activity near Ha’Kamwe’ until lawsuit plays out

By Earthjustice, Censored News, Nov. 6, 2024

PHOENIX, Arizona — A federal judge yesterday decided to extend a temporary pause on harmful drilling for the duration of the Hualapai Tribe’s legal case challenging federal approval of the Sandy Valley Lithium Exploration Project.

November 5, 2024

Mohawk Nation News -- 'Whistle Blower Wonder Kimberley Murray Reveals Crime of the Century'


 



New at Mohawk Nation News:

https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2024/11/05/whistle-blower-wonder-kimberley-murray-reveals-crime-of-the-century/

The Independent Special Interlocutor Released her Final Report and the Indigenous-led Reparations Framework for Missing and Disappeared Children and Unmarked Burials


November 4, 2024

New! The Red Nation: Diné for Palestine Brutalized, Tackled by Police, Jailed at Democrats Rally on Navajo Nation


Photo courtesy The Red Nation

Harris/Walz campaign staffers brutalized Diné at Navajo Nation capitol

By The Red Nation Podcast

Video https://www.therednation.org/the-red-nation-podcast-3/

NAVAJO NATION, Window Rock, Arizona -- Vice President candidate for the Democratic Party Tim Walz stopped in Window Rock, Arizona where snipers lined the monument and three Diné citizens were brutalized by his staffers during the Harris/Walz campaign stop; 10 days before the general election.

While standing in the crowd, a Diné woman was continuously harassed by authorities and attacked by a Walz staffer, while another Diné man was brutalized and arrested. Meanwhile, Buu Nygren, President of the Navajo Nation, was getting heckled about his missing Vice President and another woman chanting for Trump in the crowd. It was clear that campaign staffers weren’t clamping down on “disruptors”, rather, they were targeting Diné people—on their own homelands—policing anyone who supports Palestine.

Interior Sec. Haaland's Pueblo is in the Ballistic Missile Parts Business

 Laguna Industries manufactures parts for the ballistic missile, LGM-30G Minuteman III


Interior Sec. Haaland's Pueblo is in the Ballistic Missile Parts Business

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 4, 2024

LAGUNA PUEBLO, New Mexico -- Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's tribe's enterprise, Laguna Industries, manufactures parts for both the ballistic missile, and parts for combat jets, including the F-15. Biden recently approved the sale of fifty F-15 jets to Israel in a $20 billion deal.

The discovery comes after Biden was protested at Gila River Indian Community, and Interior Sec. Haaland was sued by three Arizona tribes for targeting and destroying the sacred.


The F-15 combat jet by McDonnell Douglas.

Laguna Industries, owned by Laguna Pueblo, is a defense contractor and produces electrical components. As a Native American owned company, it receives priority in defense contracting.

November 2, 2024

O'odham Woman Becomes Hero When Genocide Joe Comes to Town

Photo courtesy O'odham Solidarity, published with permission, Censored News



Biden used the crimes committed against children in boarding schools to advance the political campaign at Gila River Indian Community. It backfired. -- Censored News





O'odham Woman Becomes Hero When Genocide Joe Comes to Town

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 25, 2024

LAVEEN VILLAGE, Gila River Indian Community, Arizona -- In the Gila River Indian Community today, Biden claimed to be issuing an apology to Native children who were victims of U.S. boarding schools. His glory campaign was short-lived.

As Biden spoke, an O'odham woman held up this sign: "There Are Still Babies in Mass Graves. Your Apology Means Nothing!! Land Back."

November 1, 2024

Indigenous Spiritual Walk to White Mesa Uranium Mill -- Unicorn Riot's Four Part Video Series



Yolanda Badback, organizer of the White Mesa Spiritual Walk: “I will always do this spiritual walk annually until I get my goal achieved of  cleaning up the mill or closing the mill down.”

White Mesa Ute Spiritual Walk 2024 Photo Unicorn Riot



"This is about the human race. We are all one people," says Sylvia Clahchischilli, Dine'.  "We need the natural world to survive."

Indigenous Spiritual Walk in Utah Protests Last Conventional Uranium Mill

By Alex Binder, Unicorn Riot November 1, 2024

White Mesa, Utah — The White Mesa Mill was built in 1979 with plans to process uranium ore for 15 years. With the facility now well past its initial operational lifespan, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, other Indigenous tribes and allies continue their call for it to be shut down and cleaned up. On October 12, over 75 people participated in an annual spiritual walk in opposition to the mill, which is the last conventional uranium processing plant in operation in the United States.

Diné Supporters for Palestine Removed, Arrested, on Navajo Nation During Democrats Rally



Diné Supporters for Palestine Removed, Arrested, on Navajo Nation During Democrat's Rally

While standing in solidarity with Palestine, and in opposition to genocide, Diné women were manhandled and removed from the rally on their homeland, one Diné warrior remains jailed

By The Red Nation, Censored News, Oct. 27, 2024

WINDOW ROCK, Navajo Nation -- The Vice President candidate for the democratic party, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, campaigned at the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock, Arizona, where snipers lined the sacred monument and three Diné citizens were escorted out. Two of them being women who were manhandled and one Diné man being tackled and arrested.

Snipers on the roof. Red Nation video, Censored News

The women were repeatedly harassed by secret service in the crowd, and one woman was violently attacked by a Harris/Walz staffer.